History 102-03

Second Short Paper:

Franklin’s Values and Ours

DEEP-ROOTED

By

Melinda S. Wrocklage

University of Louisville

March 23, 2004

DEEP-ROOTED

Out of Franklin’s autobiography, I chose a single sentence from the

paragraph in which he explained about setting up a Journeyman into his
own Printing-House, paying 1/3rd of the expense and due to receive 1/3rd
of the profits for a set amount of time. This particular Journeyman was
not an accomplished bookkeeper; he seldom paid Franklin his due of the
profits, nor did he provide a clear statement of the partnership or even
keep an up-to-date ledger. In the sentence I chose, Franklin explains
that the man’s widow very competently continued the business,
rectifying her late-husband’s short-comings. He went on to explain that
he brought this up in his autobiography to advocate that American
women should also learn bookkeeping as a part of their education, which
has a potentially greater usefulness to them than “Music and Dancing”.
(The entire paragraph can be found on page 108.)

“On his Decease, the Business was continued by his Widow,

who being born & bred in Holland, where as I have been
inform’d the Knowledge of Accompts makes a Part of Female
Education, she not only sent me as clear a State as she
could find of the Transactions past, but continu’d to account
with the greatest Regularity & Exactitude every Quarter
afterwards; and manag’d the Business with such Success
that she not only brought up reputably a Family of Children,
but at the Expiration of the Term was able to purchase of me
the Printinghouse and establish her Son in it.” (Franklin,
The Autobiography, Penguin Books, p. 108)

For me to choose “Accompts” and “State” was rather simplistic, since

they were most obviously archaic forms of more modern words; but I also
chose “Exactitude” and “Regularity” because I do not usually see them
used in everyday spoken, or even formally written, English; lastly, I chose
“Reputably”, suspecting that the importance on reputation may have
diminished since Franklin’s time, which would effect the word’s use
and/or meaning.

Accompts (verb) – archaic form of ACCOUNT; still occasionally

written for the substantive in the sense of money reckoning.
(vol. 1, p. 81)

Accompts (accounting) (noun) - reckoning of money received and

paid - a reckoning as to money, a statement of moneys
received and expended, with calculation of the balance; a
detailed statement of money due (vol. 1, p. 85)

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 1727 Bless me, what immense sums are at the bottom of the
accompt! (Arbuthnot, Hist. John Bull)

1852 Besides writing my lord’s letters, and arranging his

accompts for him (Thackery, Estmond)

State (statement) (noun) - a detailed enumeration or report of

particulars or items; especially a statement of items of cost
or outlay, of actual or estimated expenses (vol. 16, p. 555)

1701 I laid before the Speaker the State of what had ben
receiv’d and paid towards the building of Greenwich Hospital
(Evenlyn, Diary)

1727 A state of the national debt as it stood Dec. 27, 1716

(W. Pultney, title)

Exactitude - the quality of being exact; attention to minutiæ,

accuracy of detail, precision (vol. 5, p. 482)

1734 There is..in virtue, an exactitude and steadiness or

rather a kind of stiffness (Rollin’s Anc. Hist.)

1859 Performing the initial duties to her dead with the awe
and exactitude that belong to religious rites (Geo. Eliot,
A. Bede)

Regularity - the state or character of being regular (vol. 13,

p. 523-524)

1728 He must..have had no knowledge of the Regularity of

that Life she led in Rome (Eliza Heywood, Mme. De Gomez’s
Belle A.)

1856 [He was] present at the services in chapel two or three

times a day with unfailing regularity (Froude, Hist. Eng.)

Reputably (adverb) - in a reputable or respectable manner (vol. 13,

p. 678)

1748 Hers is a protection I could more reputably fly to, than

to that of any other person (Richardson, Clarissa)

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 1860 He had lived comfortably and reputably (Holland,
Miss Gilbert)

This paraphrase is simply how I might have told this particular story if it
had happened to me; perhaps not my spoken English, but at least my
written English.

After his death, his business was continued by his widow

who, born and raised in Holland where I have heard women
learn accounting as part of their curriculum, was not only
able to send me as accurate of a past statement as possible,
but was also able to continue on with methodical precision;
not only did she successfully manage the business while
raising a family, but was also able to buy the Printing-House
from me after our contract expired, setting up her son in the
business.

In my paraphrase, I made some changes based on my own more modern

form of spoken/written English; changing ‘Decease’ to ‘death’, ‘bred’ to
‘raised’, “inform’d” to ‘heard’, ‘Knowledge of Accompts’ to ‘accounting’,
‘Female Education’ to ‘curriculum’, ‘State’ to ‘statement’, ‘Regularity &
Exactitude’ to ‘methodical precision’, ‘brought up reputably’ to ‘raising’,
‘purchase’ to ‘buy’, ‘establish’ to ‘setting up’, and ‘Expiration of the Term’
to ‘contract expired’; I also omitted ‘Transactions’, ‘every Quarter
afterwards’, and ‘of Children’, feeling they were unnecessary to express
the thought.

In both my paraphrase and my poem, I did not use the word “reputably”
because, as I stated earlier, I suspect that the importance on reputation
may have diminished since Franklin’s time, which was an age of
collective spirit where a person’s reputation was cherished, determined
not just by actions but also by choices in acquaintances, occupation, or
even clothing.

I will admit that this was a rather long sentence for me to express in a
poem; however I believe that I was able to successfully convey Franklin’s
thought.

Upon his death, his business and obligation his widow

maintained,
She being from Holland, where an education in bookkeeping
was obtained,
She gathered past transactions and presented to me a
statement with correctness,
And thereafter continued with disciplined exactness;

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 While paying off the debt, her family of children she
respectably reared,
After buying from me the Printing-House, into that business
her son she steered.

Franklin quintessentially exemplified the emerging American value-

system; incorporating European tradition while at the same time
breaking with that tradition in many ways. The fundamental principle of
his beliefs represented a budding, completely unique American
viewpoint. His self-proved ideas that hard work and persistence could
achieve unlimited success showed clearly in this passage where he
described the possibility that an educated woman would be able to
maintain a prosperous business.

The Puritan church heavily influenced the ethic system of the colonies;
although during Franklin’s lifetime it had lost its stronghold on society.
While he disagreed with aspects of the Puritan religion, he followed
Puritan tradition in placing much importance on maintaining a decent
and honorable lifestyle, as is shown in his list of thirteen virtues. He
also placed great significance on hard work and personal responsibility,
but strayed from Puritan ideas by stressing equality, free-will, individual
accountability, and the importance of self-development through
education and the perpetuation of a worthy and moral lifestyle; these
beliefs would later be considered the foundation of the American value-
system.

I will admit to being confused…exactly what is present-day American

morality? Some countries see us as self-righteously up-tight, while
others see us as immorally obscene; but when I look around at my circle
of acquaintances (which I will admit is entirely made up of relatives,
predominantly in-laws), I see neither self-righteousness nor obscenity. I
see average people genuinely caring for their children’s health, welfare,
and education, while not overly-interested in politics or religion but still
striving to be good people. Perhaps if I went into a business, or even
polled the students of this classroom, I might find an entire spectrum of
values. When I also look at the teenagers at my children’s school (it is a
Kindergarten-through-Twelfth-grade public school, with no uniforms), I
see caring students, girls in ankle-length skirts and boys who are
respectful to others. Perhaps if I walked into a different school, I would
find a different scene. Movies, television shows, and music rarely portray
what I experience daily. If the world judges America by these types of
media, I can understand my confusion of their differing assessments;
with this in mind, I can only come to my own conclusions based on my
own experiences.

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Franklin’s religious ideas placed all humans on equal ground, perhaps a
carry-over of his scientific beliefs of equality as I had stated in my long
paper, “[Franklin’s] scientific thinking, based firmly inside of Natural
Law, led him to believe in total equality.” Based on his notions of
equality, it would not be too difficult to imagine him broaching the area
of gender equality; the passage I used is an example that a woman, given
the right education, can fulfill the duty of a man, perhaps even better
than that man. If he had lived longer, during the time of female suffrage
debates in America, he may even have spoken out for the cause. But
then again, to Franklin “all Cats are grey [in the dark]” (p. 208), when
discussing women young versus old; I suppose he may not have been
that progressive in gender-equality thinking as my chosen passage may
have suggested. Currently, gender equality is a lawful right; although it
is still not practiced in every facet of American life, such as businesses
continuing to pay men more than women to do the same job with the
same education and experience. I may have placed higher significance to
this passage in the context of gender equality than Franklin probably
intended.

Professor’s Grade and Comment:

A+ 97

Thoughtful and informed. But, I would have liked you to do more with
two words you see as sufficiently different in an interesting way:
“regularity” and “exactitude”.

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